Beginning in July, Houston residents will find a new $1.14 fee on their monthly water bills for leasing the city’s garbage and recycling bins.
A divided city council voted 8-6, with three members absent, to pass the new fee Wednesday after it was delayed twice at previous meetings. The fee will be in place for four years, and then it will have to return to council for consideration again because of a sunset amendment posed by Councilman Michael Kubosh.
Mayor Sylvester Turner has said the $5 million in new annual revenue the fee is expected to generate is needed to maintain the city’s stock of the bins, particularly in light of Houston’s budget difficulties. The dollars will be deposited in a separate account for that purpose. Turner said the city cannot afford to keep providing the bins for free.
“We have strained Solid Waste to the limit in this city,” Turner said. “The point is, we’re simply asking people to pay for the bins, just for the bins.”
Houston mayors and councils — including Turner — long have resisted the idea of monthly garbage collection fees like those imposed in every other major Texas city. As of last year, Austin charged a monthly garbage fee of between $25 and $50, San Antonio charged roughly $20, Dallas charged $27 and Fort Worth charged between $12.50 and $23.
Turner said he has resisted fees at those levels because the public would not allow them. He said he instead chose the “lowest denominator” — which he has insisted is not a garbage collection fee — amid pleas from Solid Waste Management Department Director Harry Hayes for a more robust fee to improve service.
Hayes told council Wednesday that 30-40 percent of complaints the department receives are related to missing or damaged bins.
“This is one of the lowest-hanging fruits to deal with one of the highest complaints that we get from customers,” Hayes said.
Nonetheless, the 57-cents-per-bin fee sparked a spirited debate around the council table.
You know me, I’ve long been in favor of a dedicated fee for Solid Waste. It’s never made sense to me that Houston funds this entirely out of general revenue. If I have any objection to this it’s that we didn’t go all the way and pass a fee to entirely fund the Solid Waste department. (Yes, I know, the timing for that would be lousy now, but we could have done this any time before now.) Maybe when this fee has to come up for a vote again in four years, we can finally have that debate. In the meantime, I hope this means that the Solid Waste department will be quick and responsive about replacing lost and damaged bins. The point was to improve the service, so let’s make sure that happens.
“It’s never made sense to me that Houston funds this entirely out of general revenue. If I have any objection to this it’s that we didn’t go all the way and pass a fee to entirely fund the Solid Waste department.”
I absolutely agree. As it stands now, apartment complexes and businesses have to pay for their own trash pick up, but single family home owners and renters get theirs picked up at no additional charge. That’s patently unfair. Houston is an outlier here. What other big city does that? None, I’m guessing?
I’m all for paying $1.14/month if I can get some assurances from Sly that the City is actually going to recycle the green bin’s contents…
@C.L.
Dare to dream.
How is council member Boykins not even mentioned? When it was Boykins’ idea, the mayor was not just no, but HE– NO! Now the mayor makes it his own idea and it is great and the whole comedy shows who is kissing the Mayor’s rear, yes I’m talking about you Jerry Davis.